I am a longtime brand guy - mostly from the client side. I write mostly about smart or foolish things that brands do. I teach branding and social media at NYU and for ThirdWay Brand Trainers. Worked in marketing for Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, DoubleClick and others ...

Ford Remixes The Fiesta Movement For 2014

When Ford launched the Fiesta for 2011, they had a head start. Two years earlier in 2009, they’d brought 100 European Fiestas to the U.S. and created the Fiesta Movement. Thousands of consumers submitted entries to be chosen as one of 100 digital influencers given the keys to a Fiesta for six months. These Fiesta agents completed monthly challenges, posted video and blogged about their experiences. The campaign, masterminded by new Ford social media head Scott Monty, was called the Fiesta Movement. It was spectacularly successful.

The campaign did an exceptional job of exposing the Fiesta name to a new generation of users (the name had been defunct in the U.S. for over a decade), gaining 6.2mm YouTube views, 750,000 Flickr views and 40mm Twitter impressions. Most importantly, it singlehandedly brought top-of-mind awareness for the Fiesta nameto a new generation of drivers. 132,000 drivers signed up for updates on the new Fiesta and over 6,000 pre-ordered the Fiesta, an exceptionally strong showing for a new economy car. Four years later, Ford is resurrecting the Fiesta Movement for the launch of the 2014 Fiesta. Monty, now well into his tenure at Ford, announced a “social remix” of the classic campaign this morning at Bloomberg Headquarters in New York during a Social Media Week event. This time around, Ford is incorporating the lessons from the first Fiesta Movement, as well as successful social campaigns for the Explorer, Escape and Fusion into the new Fiesta movement.

The 2014 Fiesta Movement will still have 100 agents given the use of a 2014 Fiesta for up to 8 months plus reimbursement for parking, gas and insurance. As with the first Fiesta Movement, there will be also be monthly missions to complete. This time around, though, a small percentage of the cars will be reserved for celebrities, current Fiesta owners and alumni. Each month with have a theme and a particular mission for the theme. The monthly themes are intended to highlight different features of the Fiesta. This year, Ford will partner with American Idol, the Summer X Games and the Bonoaroo Music Festival. Part of the partnership will give Fiesta agents inside access to these events, including behind-the-scenes looks at Idol.

A big change from the earlier promotion is that this year’s Fiesta Movement will generate all of the tv, print and digital advertising for the 2014 Fiesta launch over the summer. WPP agency Team Detroit, Ford’s agency of record, will use the influencer produced video to create advertising and tie in with the promotional partners to further the reach.

Ford has a good track record with user engagement in social media programs. While the original Fiesta Movement program has been criticized for failing to ignite long-term growth behind the Fiesta, the promotion was never designed for that end. As Forbes contributor Dale Buss points out, the Fiesta movement did an excellent job of propelling launch sales for the Fiesta. After the launch of the new Focus, however, sales lagged, perhaps suggesting a lack of sufficient differentiation between models.

I asked Scott Monty how the goals for the remix campaign are different from the original Fiesta Movement and he pointed out that the Fiesta is no longer an unknown quantity to U.S. drivers, but that, ”It’s our job to help people understand what’s new and different about this Fiesta” When I probed further about the sales dropoff for the Fiesta, he was forthright, “The Focus came on the scene and it was a just a little bit larger than the Fiesta with almost as good fuel economy and at the same time fuel prices dropped so the Fiesta was no longer as compelling as it was before.” The new Focus? ”With the 1.0 liter engine and myfordtouch, it’s a no-compromise vehicle at a lower price point.”

I also asked Monty about the integrations that are planned with American Idol and the Summer X Games in particular which have both had Ford tie-ins in the past. ”We were just looking at our own ecosystem and these are programs that we’ve done integrations with before as a pop-up. Now we have the chance to send influencers there – people with cars who are media makers themselves and create a custom experience for them.”

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